Vampire Mages“How many fighters did you get?" Hagel asked."Over a hundred," Ava said, sounding tired.Hagel put down his wine. It wasn't enough. They needed an army to fight the vampire mages, and they were running out of time."And wait!" Hagel stopped her. "Do these vampires really exist? I found out about a newspaper that talks a lot about them and even the vampire mages." "I have so many thoughts on that," Ava said, her face clearly painted with curiosity. "They feel too real, even in dreams. But, now I think we have to locate them.” "I agree," Hagel muttered. "The stories from everywhere match." "What scares me is how they team up with pit beasts!" Ava burst out. She sounded truly unhappy. "They become so powerful and deadly!" "Vampire mages?" Hagel asked, his eyes narrow. He'd heard the term but never truly believed it. "Yes," Ava confirmed, a cold shiver running through her veins. "They're actually the strongest vampires, and they deal in capturing souls." "Do you

Do you actually mean you're an enemy?” Hagel asked, his eyes turning against the suspect. “I won't let you utter a word now. I just want to test you first…”"Isn't he?" Jorin asked, opening his mouth wide in amazement. "I don't think they look so similar to this. Even this hat on this head is tattered, or what do you say? Any resemblance?" Hagel retorted, dangling rhetorical questions around Jorin's reasoning. Jorin switched to the captured and suspected robber and asked him even more questions. “But, don't you know it’s time for the Contra Sangues to be out?" "Well, I have no idea of what you're saying.” The suspect responded, his words rather rude. “Or, are you asking me that?" Jorin shouted at him angrily, trying to caution and scold him at the same time, so Hagel himself came in suddenly. "How do you even have the guts to give such a curt response? Do you know you're talking with the..." "The Night Contra Sangue?!" He complemented Jorin's words.When the suspected robber disc

The strange silence of the mage world shattered in a flash of claws. A violent hiss rustled in the air, and before anyone could react, a vampire not a mage, but pure, unmixed darkness rushed from the trees and hit its jagged claws into Hagel’s head.He dropped to his knees, vision blurring, blood dripping down the side of his face. Ava screamed his name, pulling her blaster from its holster, but the creature vanished into the shadows, its job done to warn.The others Liam, Kenji, and the two scouts stood frozen in horror. They had tracked too close, and now… they’d been marked.“What the hell was that?” Ava whispered, her eyes wide.Hagel pushed himself up, groaning. “A pure vampire. No mage... no beast traits. That thing was bred for blood. And it just delivered a message.”They had been hunting mage vampire types who were once humans, animals, or beasts, now fused by dark energy into unpredictable hybrids. But this was something else. Something born from shadow and hatred.“We need

Tycus held his metal pipe so tightly that his hands hurt. His face was pale. He looked at his friend, Hagel. "What is the plan?" he asked. His voice was shaky.Hagel was already at the old control panel. His fingers moved quickly over the dusty buttons. "This tower has an old alarm system," Hagel explained. "It has very loud sirens and bright flashing lights on the roof. I am going to turn it on."Tycus's eyes grew wide with fear. "But that will bring every enemy in the city right to us! It is suicide!""No, it is a trick!" Hagel said sharply. He did not look up from his work. "It is a diversion. All the vampires will look here, at the tower. They will come to us. But that is the point. While they are focused on us, Ava and Jorin can move Mia to a new, safer hiding spot. The rest of our team can run away and hide. Then, they will meet us later." His finger pointed to a big red button on the screen. It said "EXECUTE". "The moment I push this, we run. We run to the old warehouse distric

“The path to the Sunken Cathedral is not a straight line,” Grok warned, his voice clear but low. “The land around it is really something else. It twists and plays tricks on the eyes. We must follow the old river path. The water that is left there remembers the real way.”They moved out without a word. The city was overwhelmed with stunning silence . There were no birds singing, no sounds of people. It felt like the whole world had died or was hiding. The buildings here were very old. They were covered in a dark, wet moss that seemed to move slowly.The first light of dawn was grey and weak. It did little to warm the cold, dull city. Hagel’s small team met at a broken gate. There was Hagel, Elara the mage, Tycus, and Grok. The big shifter moved stiffly and with clear pain, but he would not stay behind.Elara walked with her hands held up. A soft, golden light came from her palms. It formed a faint, lively bubble around the four of them. “This shield hides our life energy from them,” sh